The history of pedagogical museums in the early 20th century: an approach to the work of Benjamin R. Andrews

Abstract

Benjamin R. Andrews was a professor of home economics for many years at Teachers College, Columbia University. However, he began as a doctoral student, charged with establishing its Educational Museum, utilising the collections and artefacts the institution had assembled from exhibitions organised in previous years. Andrews then wrote his doctoral dissertation on educational museums. For the first time, the United States conducted comparative research among these institutions, both within their context and globally. This paper analyses Andrews's figure, the academic setting in which he wrote his work and a selection of texts from the published book.